Where the speaker says, "The stubborn season has made stand" (3), the stubborn season (winter) represents the old ways, and the hyacinths blooming represents the beginning of what is to come. Like the hyacinths, these new ways have not yet taken root, they are still in bowls, but the ideas are present enough that the speaker has an idea of what is going to happen. Another image presented is that of dust and memory waiting for the wind (6-7). This suggests that the wind, like the hyacinths, may represent the changes to come because the wind will sweep away the dust and the memories of old. The use of images allow the reader to interpret the meaning of the poem in a variety of ways as opposed to forcing them to see it in the same way as the author or speaker.

             The poem also uses allusions to religion to create images for the reader. Beginning in the second stanza the speaker says "Who shall remember my house, where shall live my children's children When the time of sorrow is come" (13-15). Here he is showing concern about the future. In the present, when the traditional ways are still predominant, the speaker feels his good deeds are appreciated, in the future he is not so sure people will remember what a good person he was. Another religious allusion, as well as another example of a time of change, occurs when the speaker refers to "the Infant" (23) with a capital letter I. This is most likely a reference to Jesus Christ. The second part of line 23, "the still unspeaking and unspoken Word," further leads us to believe the Infant is Christ, but he has yet to perform the actions and give the speeches that changed the face of religion forever. As those changes were on the horizon at the time of his birth, the change toward modernity is on the horizon at the time "A Song for Simeon" was written. The image of asking God to console the people of Israel (the Jewish people) before the birth of Christianity, is a metaphor for the way the speaker would like to be consoled before the changes in his future.